The Trafficked

59

Johnny Mann appeared from the other side of the bar. He leaned in and kissed Becky’s cheek.

‘Did you have a nice chat?’

‘Huh! He came this far…’ Becky pinched her forefinger and thumb together as if she were picking up salt ‘…to getting a punch in the mouth. If I hadn’t been afraid I’d need a tetanus jab afterwards, I would have…Sorry I took so long. I took a detour back to the room to see if our fish had taken the bait, and…’

‘Had it?’

‘Hook, line and whatever. Bags gone though. Well, your bag was gone. My stuff was obligingly set out in neat piles. They would have found everything they needed. Ng has created a great profile for us-you’re a beautician, by the way. On paper I come out as a dirty bastard and you come out as a trophy wife. By the time they finish checking us out tonight I will be just what they are looking for.’ Mann nodded in the direction that English Bob had just departed. ‘You think he’s bad-you should meet his best friend, Fat Harry. How did you get on?’

‘I’m afraid he knows I was asking questions.’

‘Can’t be helped. We don’t have time to pussy foot now I have an appointment with them both tomorrow. We will soon find out if they know who we are.’

‘I had disturbing news from home. Two of the women in the fire were traced here. And I talked to the women in the spa, down the beach. One of them has similar-aged girls gone missing. I got some details and faxed them over to Shrimp. He’s seeing if any of them match the burn victims. The women here are very scared. They told me that there have been a lot of girls going missing over the last year.’

‘How?’

‘Kidnapped on the walk to school. A windowless van turns up. Three men jump out, none of them local, apparently, at least one Chinese. They bundle the girls in the back. Onlookers have reported that when the doors are opened at the back, they see other girls sleeping, doped, in the van. And, surprise, surprise…who warned the girls off reporting their missing children?’

‘Our British pals?’

‘Precisely, and the women daren’t go to the police around here because the chief is part-owner of most of the bars along the beach.’

‘So I gathered from Fat Harry. Okay. We’d better make sure tomorrow is our last day here. We need to get up to Angeles. I meet them at eleven; we’ll be gone by twelve thirty. I’ll text Remy now and make sure he is ready. We might want to get out in a hurry. Another thing-I found a friend of yours…Reese the friendly pervert. He is sunbathing on the beach right now.’

‘Strange timing…does he know it’s night?’

‘It’s going to be permanently night for our friend Reese. We better get out as soon as we can tomorrow. They aren’t going to take long to find him, maybe longer to recognise him-the crabs were having a midnight feast when I left.’ Mann checked his watch-it was midnight. ‘We have twenty-four hours till the deadline is up.’

‘What if CK is setting us up to fail? What if he wants this war more than he wants his daughter’s life?’

‘CK will honour his pact. But others may not.’

‘Wait a minute…’ She stopped and turned to him. ‘You said we were going to Negros, didn’t you?’

‘Change of plan.’

She tilted her head to one side and scowled at him.

‘Don’t fucking bullshit me. You don’t trust me, why? Why did you lie?’

‘Okay-I have had emails from someone calling themselves Blanco.’

‘The name of the bogus company on the kidnap emails?’

‘Yes. He is playing a game with us. He knows where Amy Tang is being held and he knows where we are and what we are doing. He probably knows we are on this beach right now. I don’t know how he does that but I do know he holds Amy’s fate in his hands.’ Stevie Ho was watching them from the balcony of the hotel where Terry and Reese had sat having a drink. He finished dialling a number and pressed the phone to his ear.

‘Finish it. Kill her,’ he said, and closed the phone.